Vintage Information

2003 Vintage Report - Barossa Valley

Season 2002/03 was a mixed bag of hot dry conditions, dominated by a single heavy rainfall event with a consequent decline in grape quality for wine, and autumn came early. Despite the difficulties, berries were relatively disease free and ripened adequately in terms of both sugar and flavour development.

Several high wind events occurred in October leading to occasional shoot damage, but otherwise spring was uneventful. After a cool start, the summer months were hot, and high winds were still a feature. Vines began to show signs of heat and water stress by the end of January.

In late February there were two days of widespread rain, which caused extensive splitting and subsequent berry shrivel in Semillon and Riesling and to a lesser extent in Shiraz and Grenache. After the rain in February, autumn came quickly, bringing cool temperatures but fortunately little rain.
April cleared into warm, sunny weather ideal for ripening the last few blocks. A late start to sampling and the compressed ripening led to considerable pressure for all concerned in getting blocks ready for harvest. In spite of the difficulties, some growers had better results than ever before with Semillon and Riesling.

The high number of shriveled berries did, however, reduce the overall quality of some blocks as these shriveled berries retained immature flavours. The combination of shriveled berries and winemakers’ request to delay harvest until development of desired flavours led to high baumé levels at grape receival.

Due to these difficult conditions, we did not make a Glaetzer Shiraz or Glaetzer Bishop. We only made a very small quantity of the Glaetzer
Amon-ra Shiraz.